Geometry: Indifference Curve, Budget Line, Equilibrium of Consumer Essay

Research the Following: 1. Indifference Curve – An indifference curve is a graph showing combination of two goods that give the consumer equal satisfaction and utility. Definition: An indifference curve is a graph showing combination of two goods that give the consumer equal satisfaction and utility. Each point on an indifference curve indicates that a consumer is indifferent between the two and all points give him the same utility. Description: Graphically, the indifference curve is drawn as a downward sloping convex to the origin. The graph shows a combination of two goods that the consumer consumes. The above diagram shows the U indifference curve showing bundles of goods A and B. To the consumer, bundle A and B are the same as both of them give him the equal satisfaction. In other words, point A gives as much utility as point B to the individual. The consumer will be satisfied at any point along the curve assuming that other things are constant. 2. Budget Line – A graphical depiction of the various combinations of two selected products that a consumer can afford at specified prices for the products given their particular income level. When a typical business is analyzing a two product budget line, the amounts of the first product are plotted on the horizontal X axis and the amounts of the second product are plotted on the vertical Y axis. -A consumer’s budget line characterizes on a graph the maximum amounts of goods that the consumer can afford. In a two good case, we can think of quantities of good X on the horizontal axis and quantities of good Y on the vertical axis. The term is often used when there are many goods, and without reference to any actual graphs. Example: Rose Bole has only $100 to spend on her two passions in life: buying books and attending movies. If all books cost $5.00 and all movies cost $2.50 (these are simply assumptions to make the problem easier–as is the assumption that only two items are involved in the problem), the graph below  shows the options open to Rose. The budget line is a frontier showing what Rose can attain. 3. Equilibrium of Consumer – Consumer Equilibrium can be explained as the point where a consumer gets the maximum amount of satisfaction from the choice he makes between 2 or more competing products. Any deviation from this point results in less satisfaction. For example, a consumer with limited income may wish to purchase both fruit and vegetables. However, the more fruit he buys, the less vegetable he can purchase and vice versa. The consumer equilibrium point will be a point at which he can purchase enough of each to gain the maximum satisfaction with his purchase decision. Example: The weekly demand and supply schedule for a brand of soft drink at various prices (between 30p and  £1.10p) is shown opposite. Equilibrium As can be seen, this market will be in equilibrium at a price of 60p per soft drink. At this price the demand for drinks by students equals the supply, and the market will clear. 500 drinks will be offered for sale at 60p and 500 will be bought – there will be no excess demand or supply at 60p.

Descartes’ First Trademark Argument Essay

Descartes argues that our idea of God is innate, meaning it is something inside us from birth, something that has always been there and will always be there. He believed that everybody has an idea of God being a supremely perfect being, and comes to the conclusion in his argument, that God himself put this idea there, he even said that our idea of God is like â€Å"the mark of the craftsman stamped on his work† – us being the work, the mark being our knowledge of God himself. For Descartes, the fact that everybody has this innate idea of a supremely perfect God is in itself, proof of his existence; and the fact that this is an a priori argument, makes this argument appealing for all rationalists, as it relies on knowledge, and not sense experience – which Descartes never trusted. The foundation for Descartes argument is the causal adequacy principle, this is the idea that something (for example, A cannot exist unless it is produced or caused by something else that contains formally or eminently everything that is found in A. Formal reality refers to the basic properties that a thing possesses. However, this alone would cause problems for Descartes argument, because God obviously does not possess all of the properties, of all of the objects on earth, take for example a stone, its properties are hard, round, rough. God is not these things. The way Descartes gets round this is by saying that something say again, a stone, can be caused by something that contains the properties eminently. To contain something eminently, means for the cause to not necessarily have the same properties as the effect, but to have a greater property. So God may not possess the qualities of a stone (say hardness) however he possesses a quality greater then this. In other words, the causal adequacy effects means the cause of something can be no less then the effect. Descartes then takes this principle, and believes he can apply it to ideas, in particular the idea of God as a maximally/supremely perfect being, the cause of this idea, must therefore must contain formally or eminently maximum perfection, so therefore the cause of the idea of God must itself be maximally perfect. Descartes then uses deductive reasoning to decide where the idea came from, he first asked, could he be the source of the idea? However concludes that he can’t be, because he himself is not supremely perfect, and therefore he can’t be the cause of a supremely perfect being. He then considers if the idea of a supremely perfect being could have come through his senses, however he decides this isn’t possible, as he knows he has never seen (heard, smelt, tasted) a supremely perfect being. He then asks if he could have imagined a supremely perfect being, again he concludes he couldn’t have, because his idea of God is too clear and distinct to have come from his imagination. He therefore deducts that the cause of the idea of a supremely perfect being, is actually an existing supremely perfect being who ‘placed’ this idea in his mind; so therefore, God exists. There are however, a number of criticisms to this argument, firstly, many philosophers have raised doubts as to whether the causal adequacy principle is actually true to real life, as there are a number of examples in everyday situations where the cause at least appears to be less then the effect, for example, a match causing a roaring bonfire, or a whisper causing an avalanche. Further examples include chaos theory – the idea that a flutter of a butterfly’s wing can cause an earthquake. If indeed causal adequacy principle isn’t true, Descartes’ whole argument is flawed, as if the cause can be less great then the effect, then Descartes indeed could have created him himself. The second criticism is David Hume’s argument, that you cannot know a cause a priori, but only by experience. He says you cannot determine the cause of something, simply by using reasoning, for example, if a window is broken, you know it must have been something big enough to produce enough force to break it by our past experiences, not by using a priori reasoning. He concludes that you have to have to have observed the cause and the effect to truly know what happened, and therefore the cause must be in existence. The third criticism questions whether we can actually have an idea of a supremely perfect being, Thomas Aquinas doubts our imaginings of God, because he is too great, and that it is impossible for us to understand some of his qualities, particularly the idea of God being infinite, as it is beyond out understanding to understand what such qualities actually mean, and therefore we don’t have a genuine idea of God. The forth criticism of Descartes’ argument is that the idea of God is incoherent, there are attributes which appear to be just plain contradictory, for example God is both immanent and transcendent. There is also doubt raised over Gods supposed omnipotence, can he make a rock so heavy that he can’t lift it? It seems either way his omnipotence will be compromised. There is also the problem of evil, if God is all good, omniscient and omnipotent, then why does he allow suffering in the world? It would therefore seem that the idea of God is unclear, and if so it is likely the cause isn’t that great, and so would make sense that the cause could in fact have been Descartes himself. Another criticism is that the idea of God is not universal, as many other religions do not have an idea of one all powerful God, and therefore the idea of God cannot be innate, as if it was, it would be inside all of us. Also, it is put that the idea of omnipotence cannot be divine, as it can be traced back to having historical routes as tribes fought over who had the greatest God, they would start with ‘our God is powerful’ until one tribes got to ‘our God is maximally powerful’ – and therefore cannot be beaten by the other tribe. Descartes would argue that the fact other religions don’t acknowledge one maximally perfect God does not mean the innate idea is not in us, it just means they have chose to ignore it, or haven’t been made aware of it. He compares it to maths, in the way that we may not have used its truths and laws (i. e. that a triangles interior angles add up to 180) however they are still truths none the less. The last criticism is the empiricists account for the idea of God, that we have experienced attributes such as power, knowledge and goodness in people around them and simply extended them to the idea of God, therefore the cause is less great then the effect, and the idea is not innate. One thing it has in it’s favor, is that it is an a priori argument, and therefore uses reasoning, something rationalist would find very appealing, it means that if the premise can be accepted that it can give 100% certainty. Overall, I feel Descartes’ argument has too many valid criticisms for it to be considered as a successful argument, and its foundation- casual adequacy principle, is itself flawed, leaving the whole argument to fail.

Husayn-McMahon Essay

McMahon-Hussein Correspondence refers to an exchange of letters between Sharif Husayn Ibn Ali of Mecca and Sir Henry McMahon of Britain detailing the future of the Arab world in the face of a possible annexation by the Ottoman Turks. The background to this communication can be traced to early 1914 when Sharif Husayn’s son, Amir, paid a visit to the then British Consular in Egypt, Lord Kitchener, seeking British assurance that they would offer their support incase Arabs opted to revolt against Turkey. While at first Kitchner was reluctant to make any commitment, his successor in the region, McMahon, upon sensing the dwindling British fortunes in the Middle East, made hefty promises to garner the Arabs support during the First World War. It is during this period that McMahon would initiate correspondence with Husayn. The Husayn family emerged to be an influential force in the Middle East as it lay claim to be the descendant of Muhammad and held the mantle leadership of a number of kingdoms in the region (Daly 215). The issue of McMahon-Hussein correspondence has emerged highly controversial and is held to be at the core of the crisis in the Middle East. It is regarded as an important correspondence by the Palestinians as it was seen as a commitment by the British of granting them independence. In these series of letters, Husayn had asked for Arabs independence, he outlined these areas to be the Arabian Peninsula, Palestine and Iraq amongst others. McMahon on the other hand made a commitment to ensure the independence of a number of territories which would not damage the existing cordial relations with France. Arabs in the Middle East have maintained that British had promised independence to the Palestinians; on the other hand, Britain claims that this was merely a declaration of intent that was not legally binding and cannot be used to lay claim of independence to the Palestinians (Mack 123).

American Perception V.S Kite Runner Perception

Perreault 1 Emerald Perreault Mrs. Wagner English IIII 20, December, 2011 American Perception V. S Kite Runner Perception of Afghanistan The U. S went thru the most tragic, life changing, mind conflicting event of all time. On September, 11, 2001 terrorist flew two plans into the Twin Towers in New York City. The terrorist attack on 9/11 devastated and ruined an enormous amount of American lives. Weather an American lost a friend, loved one, or relative, every American lost something valuable that day. Americans lost their right to feel safe: at work, at home, or at popular locations.The last time American safety was threatened was during World War II. U. S citizens are not use to war or violence happening in their country, unlike the Middle East. Americans do not reacted positively, when tragic situation happen. Their reaction to 9/11 changed the American perception of Afghanistan and Muslim culture. Americans lost all their trust for Muslims. That lack of trust between them created a whole new stereotype. Stereotype: A general statement or word, fit to describe a specific group of people.The American stereotype created to describe Muslims is anyone who is Muslim or from the Middle East was sent to America, to destroy their wealthy non dictated, country. National Geographic Channel says,† Afghans who fled their homeland for a new life in the United States are troubled to find themselves subject to suspicion and mistrust on the basis of their nationality and religion. † Based off of this information, Muslims are all being put into one pile, stereotypically. Afghanistan man who goes by the name of Fouzia Afshari says,† We are good people, we are civilized† who volunteers at Mustafa Center, an AfghanPerreault 2 Culture Academy near Washington D. C â€Å"We are not that type of Afghan people are thinking about right now. † Fouzia Afshari is a Muslim, obviously he is not a terrorist or out to get America, the controversy is the attack ers were not American. By not being American, the terrorists allowed Americans to lose trust in a whole country of people. Muslim people will have to deal with the uncertainty of ever gaining American trust back or the American perception of Afghanistan should not be based off of what a handle full of Muslims did,but based on actual facts.Khaled Hosseini book The Kite Runner portrays Afghanistan realistically V. S the American Perception. (National Geographic news website) Clearly, the American Perception of Afghanistan is a little farfetched. The perception is not based on Afghanistan or Muslim culture, but based on what a hand full of Muslims did (AKA 9/11). The terrorist attack traumatized Americans, giving them a stereotypical perception. Typically, when a person thinks of war, immediately people think of other people being shot left and right, bombs exploding everywhere.Americans think that the terrorist attack was the Middle East declaring war on them. From that point on, Amer icans believed that the Afghans that were not fighting U. S troops off, were all sitting at a table brainstorming how their going to attack America next. Some Americans were so devastated that they will not go anywhere near Muslims or anyone from the Middle East because of their stereotypical perception. Muslims own about 75% of the gas station and covenant stores in the United States. Americans that will not associate with Muslims will go farther out of their way for gas.Americans think that Muslims do not like Americans because of the U. S troops in the Middle East and when an American goes to a Muslim gas station, their receiving less gas. Even in an unstable economy Americans still go out Perreault 3 of there way for gas, allowing Muslims to see that Americans truly view them all as terrorist. For Afghans and Muslims it is confusing for them to understand why the America perception is so ridiculous. The perception is not only based on 9/11, it is also has to do with Americans no t being given the full picture of the war in Afghanistan.The media diffidently confuses Americans. Josh Meyer stated in his article Gap between the U. S perception and reality in Iraq, Afghanistan, author posits † While Americans are given one media report after another about how Afghanistan is filled with exploding bombs, attacking hordes of the Taliban and a lawlessness that pervades every corner of the war torn nation, the real story is a more nuanced one. † Americans are given exaggerated reports on what’s happening in Afghanistan. The media is 100% to blame for the skewed version of the Afghanistan war Americans have.Based on that version of the war Americans make false actuation, which hurts the Afghanistan and Muslim population. (Josh Meyer) The American perception of Afghanistan upsets Muslims and makes it harder for their people to come to America. Muslims who are leaving Afghanistan are on America’s side. They are fleeing their own homeland and co ming to start new in America because they do not agree with how their country is being ruined. Afghans come to America for the freedom that is taken from them in Afghanistan. Naweed an Afghan woman tells National Geographic channel â€Å"No art, no radio, no television, painting, drawing-nothing is allowed.Education for women is not allowed. Music is not allowed, they call it satanic. That’s why we are strongly working to keep our culture alive here in America. † Naweed is one of many who wants to feel at home. For Muslims America is their new homeland, but because of the American perception the majority of Perreault 4 afghans feel out of place. â€Å" I’m raising my kids here and I don’t want to feel like I don’t belong here. But, that’s what I feel here as an Afghan and a Muslim. † said Alina to the National Geographic Channel, adding: â€Å" I don’t want to lose another home. Afghans don’t want to come to America the y rather live in their own country where feel at home, but they have no choice. Yet hope remains that Afghanistan will one day be in the hands of peace-loving Afghans and everyone will see the truth. (National Geographic Channel) Afghanistan was once a country where Afghans could be successful and wealthy. Then the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and the Taliban was created, but took a turn for the worst and the U. S army went to help the people in Afghanistan. When the Soviet Union was defeated the Civil War still continued.The Taliban was created to go in and unify the country. The Taliban comes form the word student- that’s what it means. The Taliban is made up of students that went to religious schools in Pakistan and former fighters, who use to fight in the war against the Soviet Union. The Taliban is what made Afghanistan a terraces place to live. After the Taliban brought peace to 80% of the country, they became power hunger and started to take away Afghanistanâ€℠¢s freedom. Even with the Taliban dictating Afghanistan, Josh Meyer, author of Gap between the U.S perception and reality in Iraq, Afghanistan, author posits says, â€Å" Anyone in this room could go to Kabul now and have a fairly good time. There are restaurants and there are bars,† and the streets are not a shooting gallery with various factions trying to kill each other, while armed insurgents are also trying to U. S and coalition forces. â€Å" The Taliban Is not a very large insurgent group. † Josh Meyer is trying to inform Americans that Afghanistan is not Iraq, but it is still not a place where all Afghans can make a living. (Josh Meyer) Perreault 5The Kite runner is the perfect example of how Afghanistan is not Iraq, but not a place where all afghans can make a living. Author Khaled Hosseini tells a story about Amir and Hassan these two Afghan boys who grew up together, but where separated by Amirs will to make his farther proud and the Soviet Union invading. A mir betrayed Hassan by watching him being raped by Asseft because Hassan was a Haraza. Guilt ate at Amir until he framed Hassan for steeling and Hassan and his father left in embarrassment. Shortly after Amir and BaBa ( Amirs farther) took a journey to America.Where Baba had to run a gas satiation and sell items he bought at a yard sale at the local flee market. Before Baba and Amir came to America they were wealthy. So wealthy that Hassan and his father were Baba servants. Afghanistan is not as poverty strict end as Americans thought it was. Amir and Baba did not come to America to destroy it, he came to America because Kabul was not safe and he hoped Amir could receives the best possible education in America. Baba and Amir were in America for two years. For those two years Baba would by a jar of fruit form the same people everyday with cash.One day Baba had no money, he wrote a check out instead. When the man asked for Id Baba exploded, â€Å"He wants to see my license? Almost tw o years we’ve bought his dam fruits and put money in his pocket and son of a dog wants to see my license. † Amir says, â€Å" They’re suppose to ask for Id† Baba says,† Dose he think I’m a thief? What kind of a country is this? No one trusts anybody. † Baba thought that the man working thought he was steeling when the man asked Baba for Id. Baba was offended. Years down the road Amir is told that Hassan died in Kabul.Hassan was shot in the back of the head because a Talian member thought him and his family where living in Amirs old house instead of in the hut outside made specifically for servants. Amir felt responsible because if he Perreault 6 and Baba would of stayed Hassan may still be alive. For Hassan he is an Afghan who should fled from Afghanistan. Amir and Baba could of stayed in Afghanistan. Khaled Hosseini book portrayed Afghanistan well and realistically. (Khaled Hosseini) The American Perception of Afghanistan is not realist ic or based on actual facts.The Kite Runner diffidently grasps and gives a better understanding of Afghanistan. Unfortunely, Afghans who come to America will have to deal with the mistrust Americans have towards them like Baba. The American Perception is not do to Americans not educating themselves. It is because of terrible media reports. Bergen the author of The Longest War: Enduring Conflict between America and Al-Qaeda says, â€Å" It is not being well communicated to the American public that the afghan war is nothing like the Iraq war, the media has to take responsibility for that.The differences between Afghanistan and Iraq couldn’t be more stark. † Bergen wants people to know that the media is portraying Afghanistan as a war torn place like Iraq, when they are both completely different. Afghanistan is not in as big of an up roar as the media made it. Instead of relying on the media to prove Americans with the proper information, Americans should educate themselv es, stop listening to everything they hear. Also Americans should not rely on electronics and once in a while pick up a book or ask someone who is Muslim to explain what’s going on. (Bergen)

Eusebius and the History of the Church Term Paper

Eusebius and the History of the Church - Term Paper Example the lines, it is also to Eusebius’ merit that most, if not all of his sources were properly credited, and acknowledged, which is very unusual for historians at that time. One of the most noted and referred books written by Eusebius is Ekklestiastices Historias, or The History of the Church, was originally in Greek, and was translated in numerous languages during the course of history. This paper will focus on the eighth book, which tells about the persecutions of emperors from Diocletian to Maximian, and the tenth book, which is about the reign of Constantine and the tolerance of the Romans to Christians that resulted in the time of peace and tranquility. The eighth book in Eusebius’ Ekklestiastices Historias tells of the rise of the Christian faith, as well as its fall, which he accounts to the events that he himself experienced in his own time.3 Initially, the Roman rulers and officers were very favorable with regards to those of the Christian faith. Aside from lettin g the lesser of the people worship in accord to their own chosen faith, Christians were also able to hold offices, govern and rule, as well as to mingle with the upper ranks of the Roman Empire. Moreover, the clergy and other church leaders were also treated with respect not just by their own people, but also those Romans with noble birth.4 With the arrival of peace and tolerance, however, internal discord starts to brew within the structure of the Christian church itself. Due to the gains the Christians had in freedom, fights among them became common. These fights not only included the worshippers, but also their church leaders as well. Eusebius attributed the succeeding events to Divine intervention, when persecutions to Christians in the government offices and the army started. While initially there was not much thought given about it, as the changes in the governance kept sliding past the Christian groups bit by bit, after several generations the Christians were once again subje ct to the punishments that the early martyrs undertook. The different manners that the Roman Empire tortured its citizens of the Christian faith were described in detail by Eusebius. Among these forms of capital punishments are: death by strangling; beheading; being burned while still alive; bodies thrown into the depths of the sea; even digging up the corpses of some and being thrown in the sea as well, thinking that these bodies might become the subject of worship by those who remain. 5 The destruction of churches and the burning of scriptures during the reign of Diocletian during his reign in 284-305 were also recorded in full detail. As the festival of the Savior’s passion (Easter) approached, aside from the demolition of churches and the eradication of Christian scriptures, those of the Christian faith holding ranks in offices were immediately removed, and those who continue to

Diagnosing a Need for Organizational Change Case Study

Diagnosing a Need for Organizational Change - Case Study Example In this regard, the disaster that befell the shuttle Challenger provided a strong focal point from which organization within bodies could be viewed. The Challenger broke into pieces moments after takeoff on January 28 1986. Prior to this culmination of events, there had been revealing signs that were overlooked by the bodies in authority. A commission was formed to look into the matter and it filed its report after carrying out its research. In light of the above, NASA made most of the recommended changes brought forth by the commission that was looking into the Challenger disaster. Despite this, the occurrence of the Columbia accident on February 1, 2003 opened a new chapter into the effectiveness of the recommendations, and most importantly, shed some light on the issue of organizational culture that tends to undermine the effectiveness of organizations. Organizational culture is the aspect or custom of workers of an organization tending to carry out their activities in a way that may not be fully recommended, but in their organization, it is the norm (Carnall, 2007). While trying to counter this, models have been set up to ensure the best productivity of organizations. Such is the Burke-Litwin model for organizational change. It aims at bringing change to an organization through the creation of connections between performance and the factors within or without the organization, which has an effect over the performance (Burke, 2010). The model relies upon a framework through which the analysis of both internal or organizational factors and external or environmental factors can be linked together to ensure superb performance of an organization. It links both theoretical aspects and practical ideas to result in the best performance (Burke, 2010). This is done in twelve dimensions each of which caters for a particular aspect of the organization. Therefore, the Columbia Accident Investigation Board report and recommendations as put under the Burke-Litwin model wou ld give a better view as follows: 1. External Environment. Following the Columbia disaster, CAIB realized that a number of external factors also indirectly resulted in the catastrophe. Such included such aspects as performance pressures from the public that tended to rush the organization into action hastily. Moreover, the budgetary allocations for the agency proved to be insufficient following shifting national priorities. 2. Mission and Strategy. Furthermore, CAIB analyzed NASA’s mission, and in comparison to the strategy employed to achieve that mission, the two were found not to tally. Moreover, the employees’ perspective was not in tandem with that of the top management (James, 2007). 3. Leadership. CAIB’s report found the leadership of NASA solely to blame for the disaster. It stated that the leadership lacked open-mindedness and could have acted quickly upon realizing that the space ship was damaged. However, this was not done hence exposing the laxity of leadership at NASA (James, 2007). 4. Organizational Culture. The report found out that NASA had come to adopt a culture through which matters were casually schemed through thereby leading to loopholes that provided avenues for such disasters. The foam responsible for the disaster had

Civilization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Civilization - Essay Example It is unfortunate that most countries have resorted to monoculture as one of the ways of producing food in large scale to feed the huge population. However, the need to maximize profit through specialization thus boosting country’s economy is the main cause of monoculture in many countries. It is evident that modernized agriculture has brought immense negative contributions in the ecological system and further extended the influence on peoples’ lives, culture, political and social status (Muttulingam Web). Mechanized farming has led to introduction of pesticides, fertilizers and even genetically Engineered Food. Nevertheless, use of fertilizers and pesticides has greatly depleted and polluted soil, water and every other useful resource used in farming thus causing serious consequences on the environment. Gender is a very significant issue in our culture because it regulates social behavior. Culture generally has created an active man compared to woman by even assigning specific roles to men and others to women. Man takes control of almost every role in the society while women are just seen as a subordinate (Spielvogel 148-154). Women are expected to have vast experience in domesticity while men were protect, have authority and be their sole providers of basic needs. Sexuality and gender has been greatly influenced by our cultural and societal norms. Women are believed to be weaker sex that can only take care of children, look after their homes and serve their husbands. This is the general perspective of the public about the women role in the society. Current individualistic society values right of privacy and personal opinion is considered very important since speaking one’s mind is healthy. Transgression of norms may result into guilt feelings and the main objective of education is learning how to learn as well as